[Dobrescu George]

I didn’t suggest it lightly, and I get that you’re being somewhat humorous in your post.

I’m curious how the Meze handled 70-80 on high gain from the X7ii actually because the 99 Classic specs say they have a maximum input power handling of only 50mW.

I think Meze 99C can handle more than that tho

I have X7mkii and 99C on my hands right now. There seems to be a little detail I missed, I also have EQ turned on with all sliders turned all the way down, except for the last one, the treble one for 99C w X7mkii at 70 volume

Without any EQ, 99C + X7mkii + AM03A - around 60 - 65 volume is okay for long term listening. Around 75 for short term listening, like one song that I want to pump all the way.

With EQ, all bands at -6dB, 16 kHz at +6dB, and 8kHz at + 0dB to give them some more treble, I think that 85 - 90 for short term listening, 1-2 sogs to blast, and around 65 - 70 - 75 for long term listening, X7mkii + AM03

For X5-3, I cannot test as in-depth since I do not have a unit... But I figured with some friends that I didn't have a proper unit earlier today, as I did similar tests.

@x RELIC x - do you find this within your typical levels as well? Because I suspect I don't suffer any hearing loss, and that this is within normal expectations, but now that you brought that up, I feel like we should confirm.

 

[superuser1]

I think its very simple. Either we are a reviewer (who has to be held to higher standards) or a normal user like (who can say almost vague crap). I wouldn't want to hear vague stuff from a person who calls himself a reviewer. Not enough power and synergy are two entirely different things. When it is being pointed out by technically sound and experienced members regarding the max power output of both devices to suggest your remark maybe erroneous. I think you should address that. And let me assure you there were no pre-final production units in Romania. You are a helpful member trying to help who seek your guidance i suggest you do them a favour and also keep the specs in mind as well as the synergy and not merely say its not powerful enough. Sorry for the rant but i dont want to see a decent person going the wrong way.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I think its very simple. Either we are a reviewer (who has to be held to higher standards) or a normal user like (who can say almost vague ****). I wouldn't want to hear vague stuff from a person who calls himself a reviewer. Not enough power and synergy are two entirely different things. When it is being pointed out by technically sound and experienced members regarding the max power output of both devices to suggest your remark maybe erroneous. I think you should address that. And let me assure you there were no pre-final production units in Romania. You are a helpful member trying to help who seek your guidance i suggest you do them a favour and also keep the specs in mind as well as the synergy and not merely say its not powerful enough. Sorry for the rant but i dont want to see a decent person going the wrong way.

No, no, I only had a tour revie unit in my hands, and that tour unit was recalled due to other things as well, I didn't send it to the next reviewer, it was sent to AVstore Romania (official FiiO dealer), then it was send back to FiiO, then FiiO issued another unit for the next reviewer.

 

[WitzyZed]

This is a misconception a lot of people have. Bright sound and high frequency extension do not necessarily correlate. I am in my mid fifties and have diminished capacity to hear higher frequencies, perhaps even more so than what is normal for someone my age due to working in factories my whole life, always with appropriate PPE though, and yet I am very sensitive to bright sounding reproduction. Many also incorrectly presume that diminished frequency response due to age reduces one's ability to differentiate between how one component sounds compared to another. These two things are also not correlated.

I didn't really presume the latter, that would be a little silly to say they should give up finding equipment they like and stop comparing because it's all downhill. Our sensitivity to frequencies isn't linear either 2-4 kHz sounds alone can be heard over another sound at a 10th of the amplitude (of the other sound). Sibilance and hot spots around 7-9kHz aren't going away with age. At most our upper range goes down to 15 kHz.

But you seldom find older bassheads (musical tastes aside).

 

[Dobrescu George]

At any rate, I got the issue right now, seems that I'll be testing another X5-3 to confirm all the things I couldn't back then (mind this, at that point this was the only demo unit of X5-3 in Romania and there just was no other way to check it against other units)

 

[superuser1]

No, no, I only had a tour revie unit in my hands, and that tour unit was recalled due to other things as well, I didn't send it to the next reviewer, it was sent to AVstore Romania (official FiiO dealer), then it was send back to FiiO, then FiiO issued another unit for the next reviewer.

Holy cows of India!! Well that doesnt change the specs on the X5 III
I am only telling you coz i know you can do much much better. Constructive criticism made Napoleon what he was .. oh wait he extinguished his critics.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Holy cows of India!! Well that doesnt change the specs on the X5 III
I am only telling you coz i know you can do much much better. Constructive criticism made Napoleon what he was .. oh wait he extinguished his critics.

Don't worry, I wouldn't hold it against you.

This is entirely my own mistake

Happily, for X7mkii I can test it well enough for such issues to not creep into my writing.

I haven't touched an X5-3 for a while now tho, so I might as well stop speaking about it

 

[superuser1]

Don't worry, I wouldn't hold it against you.

This is entirely my own mistake

Happily, for X7mkii I can test it well enough for such issues to not creep into my writing.

I haven't touched an X5-3 for a while now tho, so I might as well stop speaking about it

I will look forward to your impressions on the new unit.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I will look forward to your impressions on the new unit.

No worries. I'll be posting my impressions, and correcting any wrong impressions I had before. It will be enlightening

Thank you for your patience, and I'll make sure to correct things I stated wrongfully before. This is the only device with which I had such issues, and I surely am interested in fixing those myself

The thing is, I should have done this before

 

[Brooko]

What - you mean refrained from commenting on something that you don’t have accurate and legitimate experience with, and haven’t bothered to check the accuracy of the advice you’re giving? Surely not? I mean it’s not like you’ve been told this before multiple times .......

 

[x RELIC x]

I think Meze 99C can handle more than that tho

I have X7mkii and 99C on my hands right now. There seems to be a little detail I missed, I also have EQ turned on with all sliders turned all the way down, except for the last one, the treble one for 99C w X7mkii at 70 volume

Without any EQ, 99C + X7mkii + AM03A - around 60 - 65 volume is okay for long term listening. Around 75 for short term listening, like one song that I want to pump all the way.

With EQ, all bands at -6dB, 16 kHz at +6dB, and 8kHz at + 0dB to give them some more treble, I think that 85 - 90 for short term listening, 1-2 sogs to blast, and around 65 - 70 - 75 for long term listening, X7mkii + AM03

For X5-3, I cannot test as in-depth since I do not have a unit... But I figured with some friends that I didn't have a proper unit earlier today, as I did similar tests.

@x RELIC x - do you find this within your typical levels as well? Because I suspect I don't suffer any hearing loss, and that this is within normal expectations, but now that you brought that up, I feel like we should confirm.

The only headphone/IEM I have with a sensitivity and impedance close to the Meze 99 Classic is the LCD-i4 (35 Ohm, 105dB SPL/mW).

...

Oh wait, I also have the Vmoda M-100 (32 Ohm, 103dB SPL/mW - retired long ago), and I can test it as well for you later with the X5iii to get you a ballpark of my volume settings, since you asked. Likely in about 12 hours. I’ll also do a very rough measurement at those levels.

 

[Dobrescu George]

What - you mean refrained from commenting on something that you don’t have accurate and legitimate experience with, and haven’t bothered to check the accuracy of the advice you’re giving? Surely not? I mean it’s not like you’ve been told this before multiple times .......

But I experienced X5-3 for a while, and back then I ran a serious series of tests on it...

It is just now that it is clear that the unit I had wasn't what it should have been

The only headphone/IEM I have with a sensitivity and impedance close to the Meze 99 Classic is the LCD-i4 (35 Ohm, 105dB SPL/mW).

...

Oh wait, I also have the Vmoda M-100 (32 Ohm, 103dB SPL/mW - retired long ago), and I can test it as well for you later with the X5iii to get you a ballpark of my volume settings, since you asked. Likely in about 12 hours. I’ll also do a very rough measurement at those levels.

Please do, I do wonder if I am listening too loud...

 

[DavidA]

@Dobrescu George, as much as I appreciate your trying to help me I have to say that as a "reviewer" you should be much more careful in in making statements / recommendations. As I noted previously that I would do additional research and went looking at the specs of the and noted at what you said didn't make any sense so for me you have lost any credibility at this point. And after seeing the post from @x RELIC x and @Brooko noting your history of questionable / bad advice I'm incline to not respect or put much weight on your comments until I see / experience a change in your posting where the advice is sound.

I'm also thinking that since English might not be your first language there may be some "lost in translation" issue.

 

[Dobrescu George]

@Dobrescu George, as much as I appreciate your trying to help me I have to say that as a "reviewer" you should be much more careful in in making statements / recommendations. As I noted previously that I would do additional research and went looking at the specs of the and noted at what you said didn't make any sense so for me you have lost any credibility at this point. And after seeing the post from @x RELIC x and @Brooko noting your history of questionable / bad advice I'm incline to not respect or put much weight on your comments until I see / experience a change in your posting where the advice is sound.

I'm also thinking that since English might not be your first language there may be some "lost in translation" issue.

No worries.

I have actually tested X5-3 again this night.

Yes, I was wrong before. For the record, this isn't a language issue, and this is only related to X5-3 and me testing X5-3 alone, where it happened solely becuase I had a broken unit. I know I should had double tested before, but mind this, FiiO never sent another unit of X5-3 my way, even though it was well-known that I send the one I had to AVstore as a broken sample.



After testing an actually working unit, yes, it can be loud enough with LCD-2 and HD650, HD700.

At the point of writing my review, I only had access to one unit, and unitl now I didn't have access no another one, but I arranged with a friend in Bucharest to meet and compare it with X7mkii and to straighten my mind

X5-3 can totally drive any IEM you throw at it, and I managed by now to figure out what went wrong before as well actually.

Basically, my take on X5-3 is as it follows: compared to X5ii, X5-3 actually has some more finer treble detail, but it is less forward sounding, and could probably called laid-back in the treble presentation.X5-3 has better soundstage depth than X5ii, and the bass tends to sound / feel improved when compared to X5ii, X5-3 having better weight and depth to each note.

I am actually appreciating X5-3 different smoothness and musicality now

Being a reviewer doesn't mean that you are superhuman nor that you have a shop or access to virtually anything at any point, since I do not have an X5-3 I'll just talking about it now, I cleared my mind about it and that is what I was actually looking to do. Actually, I'm quite happy that it is even better than I remembered.

For the record, it is actually louder than X7mkii with X7mkii is rocking AM03A. Loudness alone, for my ears, X7mkii was loud enough with HD600 / HD650, LCD-2, HD700 and such, X5-3 had a lot of remaining power to drive even harder to drive headphones.

 

[DavidA]

@Dobrescu George, thanks for the update, we're good